At Broncos minicamp practice, when the offense ran inside, No. 55 of the defense was outside.

That’s exactly where D.J. Williams belongs.

His position should be: Left Out.

Nobody seems to be willing to say it out loud, but Williams no longer deserves to play for the new Broncos. He’s part of the old problem.

Besides everything else, Williams looked lost in the first mandatory workout Tuesday. He ought to have brought his “flashcards” and referred to them before plays in seven-on- seven drills.

Everyone who can sign on to the Internet probably understands that particular Broncos defensive formation as well as Williams.

The Broncos’ veteran starting linebacker, in an apparent weak(side) moment, posted several variations of one of the team’s defensive plays on Twitter.

This is not “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” kind of espionage, but Williams’ action was insensible and indefensible. He will be 30 next month, has played with the Broncos since being their No. 1 draft choice in 2004 and should know better.

Williams’ response, which didn’t include an apology, was that although the Broncos have switched to iPlaybooks, he still relies on flashcards.

While Williams was escorted by teammates after Tuesday’s practice so he wouldn’t have to talk to the media (he rarely has), coach John Fox said the team “addressed” the latest Williams episode. Fox generally does not reveal his internal player discipline decisions.

But it’s evident that Williams continues to be a big, fat pain in the Broncos’ buttress (rear part of the horse’s hoof), and Fox and John Elway must be figuring out how to get rid of him.

No team will give the Broncos anything for him. If Williams is cut, the team would take a $5 million salary cap hit.

The Broncos basically have to see how Williams’ two court cases and two possible separate suspensions play out. The Broncos could be without Williams for as many as 10 games.

He’s not worth all his trouble.

Williams is scheduled to appear in district court in Denver next month in connection with his lawsuit against the NFL — which suspended him for six games.

Then he is scheduled to be in Denver County Court on Aug. 15 for his second DUI charge. The trial has been oft-delayed, and a (jury selection error) mistrial was declared the last time.

We need flashcards to keep up.

Williams pleaded guilty in 2005 to a DUI and was sentenced to community service. On Nov. 12, 2010, at 2:50 a.m., Williams, a Broncos co-captain, was stopped for driving without headlights in Denver at Broadway and Ninth, a block from the site of the fracas that led to the murder of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams on Jan. 1, 2007.

According to the police report, D.J. Williams said the bartender told him not to drive home, but he did, anyway. Because Williams refused a blood test when taken in by police, his license was suspended for a year. If he is found guilty, he can be jailed, and the NFL, based on other DUI repeat-offender situations, could suspend him for four games.

There already is the matter of the six-game suspension Williams got from the league for failing a performance-enhancing drug test.

According to Williams’ statement when he sued for faulty handling by the sample collector, the league “contends that I provided a nonhuman specimen.”

Animal or alien?

Williams, the fourth-highest-paid Broncos player, stated that he was “proud of the way in which I conduct myself as a professional athlete and citizen.”

His individual tackle total in 2011 was down considerably from the previous two seasons, but Williams did miss the first three games with an elbow injury. Williams’ head-butting penalty late in the fourth quarter of the first game with the Chargers probably cost the Broncos a comeback victory.

To prepare for Williams’ prolonged absence, the Broncos have two other weakside linebackers — veteran Wesley Woodyard and rookie Danny Trevathan, a sixth-round pick from Kentucky who was the fifth-leading collegiate tackler last year (“a tackling machine,” according to one scouting report).

By Williams’ own admission in his tweets, the Broncos’ defensive coaches have told him he will be moved to a new spot outside.